Tag: healthy food

Overnight Oats with Mulberries

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Overnight Oats Mulberries

It’s Vitamin K central round my house! As you have probably gathered from my recent posts, I am upping my natural intake of vitamin K in the last eight weeks of pregnancy to prevent having to give my baby the injection after birth. Mulberries are the highest natural source of Vitamin K so I’m stocking up! And what better way to have mulberries than in their natural form, to sweeten up my overnight oats. This was a really delicious breakfast bowl, I’m stuffed! And so satisfied.

Ingredients

1 cup gluten free, organic, rolled oats
2 cups almond milk
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

Toppings:
Handful of dried white mulberries
1 banana, chopped
A sprinkle of desiccated coconut

Method

Simply put the ingredients (excluding the toppings) in a bowl, mix well, cover, and leave in the fridge overnight. You don’t need to add the maple syrup, just depends how sweet you like it.

When you’re ready to eat it, add the toppings. Simples!

Enjoy,

Love,
Lauren

Lunchtime Quinoa Salad (in preparation for the week)

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Quinoa salad

Stuck on what to make as a healthy lunch? I also find quinoa salad to be such a good, easy and healthy option and today I made a HUGE batch of it which means it will last me until at least Wednesday. Cooking healthy food does take time and preparation, but this took me ten minutes to make and I’ve now got lunch for a few days. You can add homemade tahini with it or have it with other hot, steamed veg on top, on its own, or with any meat or fish-based protein if you like, although quinoa is a complete protein so you don’t actually need it if you don’t want it.

I always use whatever vegetables I have to hand so just use whatever you have in the fridge!

Ingredients

1 cup organic quinoa
1 red or orange pepper
1 red onion
1 fennel
7 chestnut mushrooms
1 tin organic sweetcorn
1 courgette (zucchini), spiralized
1 lemon
Himalayan salt and black pepper

Method

Make the quinoa as per the packet instructions.

While it’s cooking, chop all your veg up into small pieces.

Once the quinoa is ready, let it cool a bit before adding it to the bowl of veg, mix well with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

TIP: if you want more flavour add a tsp Bouillon to the quinoa while it’s cooking.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Nutella Cake with Banana Caramel Frosting

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IMG_1783 (3)

I needed to bring a cake to a dinner party that was gluten free – for a gluten free person, dairy free – for a kosher person, sugar free – for a diabetic and egg free, but of course I still wanted it to be yummy! Here is what I came up with… And I called it a Nutella cake because it is chocolate and hazelnut… (BTW someone got confused when we use the term ‘cups’ to measure things. It really is as simple as using a cup to measure. A normal size mug is usually the best way to measure a cup.)

Ingredients

3 cups buckwheat flour
Half tsp baking powder
3 large bananas
1 and half cups almond or hazelnut milk
Just under a cup of maple syrup
3 tbsp coconut palm sugar
1 cup hazelnuts
Half cup vegan chocolate chips

Frosting:
1 banana
Half cup maple
4 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp almond butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 / gas mark 6.

Measure out the buckwheat flour and baking powder and put it in a large mixing bowl then set this aside.

Add the bananas, almond milk, maple syrup and coco palm sugar to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour this mix into the flour and mix well.

Add the hazelnuts to the blender and blend until they form a flour, then add this into the bowl and mix well.

Lastly, add the chocolate chips and mix evenly.

Get two springform cake tins of the same size and cut baking paper in a circle the same size as the bottom of the cake tins and put one in each, then grease with coconut oil.

Distribute the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for around 25 minutes. You want it to be moist but not undercooked.

You can make the frosting while it is baking by putting all the ingredients in the blender and letting it blend non-stop for at least 2-3 minutes, if not more, until a caramel-like consistency forms.

Once the cakes are ready, leave to cool fully. Once cooled add half the frosting to one cake, then place the other one on top and top with the rest of the frosting. You can serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Coconut & Cacao Ice Cream

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Coconut Cacao Ice Cream

Yes it’s ice cream, but I had it for breakfast. Ice cream for breakfast?? When it’s healthy, why not? It’s simply bananas, raw cacao, coconut cream and a drop of maple. That’s it! Indulge why don’t you 🙂

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas (freeze the night before in slices
The creamy part from the top of a can of coconut milk (save the watery part for a curry or something)
1 tsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic maple syrup
Desiccated coconut

Method

Put all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Top with the coconut and enjoy.

Love,
Lauren

Lauren’s Favourite Avocado Salad

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Avocado Salad

Avocados are one of my favourite foods. They’re so rich in fibre and mono-unsaturated fatty acids that keep the heart healthy and you can do so much with them… I have them on their own, cut in half with a little bit of balsamic vinegar and scoop it out with a spoon, or spread on Biona gluten free bread with some lime juice and salt or in a salad like this…

Ingredients

2 ripe organic avocados
1 hard-boiled egg
2 spring onions
Juice of one lemon
Drizzle of olive oil
Himalayan salt & black pepper to taste

Method

Make sure you pre boil your egg so it’s ready. Get a medium sized bowl as it’s quite messy so you don’t want to prepare this in the same bowl that you will be serving it from and mash your egg into really small pieces with a fork.

Then add the avocado and mash that too, followed by the rest of the ingredients until it’s all mashed in together. Serve with other salads or with a bread or cracker of your choice.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Berry Fudge Cups

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cranberry and peanut fudge cups

It’s all about peanut butter for me! Not only is it so tasty and indulgent, it is also a great source of plant protein so I tend to make a lot of snacks with natural organic peanut butter. You can make your own but for this recipe you really need a runny consistency so I like the Meridian peanut butter – works really well. See how you get on, these really are so delicious…

Ingredients

2 handfuls cranberries (also works great with goji berries)
Half cup natural organic peanut butter
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp organic natural maple syrup

Method

Mix all the ingredients other than the cranberries in a bowl until well combined.

Add empty muffin cases to a cupcake baking tray and sprinkle some cranberries at the bottom of each case then spoon in about 2 tbsp of the mixture on top.

Freeze for about an hour or until solid. I tried to keep them in the fridge but they went to soft so you should probably keep them in a container in the freezer once you’ve taken the cases off (that’s if you haven’t eaten them all straight away!)

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Courgette Pasta with Sauteed Mushrooms and Vegan Pesto

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Zoodles

OK I may have gone a little overboard with the sauce, it’s just so yummy! But you may want to tone yours down and add less sauce, or as much as you want to get it as creamy as you like.

It seems that everyone is jumping on the spiralizer bandwagon these days which is great! All these utensils give us more resources to be able to cook healthily more often, and in less time. It honestly takes about 60 seconds to put two courgettes through a spiralizer. I decided to go for a tagliatelle shape this time. I had some mushrooms and leeks in the fridge along with my courgettes so decided to mix all three together and the result was delicious. Added to it my creamy Vegan Pesto, you can’t go wrong! Either as an accompaniment to a meal or as a meal itself with some salad – just yum!

Ingredients

2 courgettes (zucchini)
About 6/7 chestnut mushrooms or any smallish mushroom
1 leek
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 x vegan pesto recipe

Method

First spiralize your courgettes and set aside. If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use a potato peeler. (Spiralizers are quite cheap and really great to have around.)

Chop your mushrooms and leeks.

Heat some olive oil in a deep saucepan and when hot, add the mushrooms and leeks. Stir for a while, until the mushrooms start to release juices, then add a little salt and pepper. After about 7-10 minutes, once they smell delicious, gently pour away the excess liquid.

Put the saucepan back on the hob and add the courgette. Mix well, then add the pesto sauce and mix around until all is hot. Serve hot and sprinkle a few pine nuts on the top.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Pan-fried Kingklip with Exotic Mushrooms, Spinach and Canihua

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Pan fried Kingklip with Mushrooms, Spinach & Canihua

As I don’t eat meat often, I try to eat fish once a week. Whether you eat meat or are vegan or vegetarian, it’s very important to be aware of your protein intake, especially if you train regularly. While it’s perfectly possible to get enough protein on a vegan diet, you have to be much more aware of it and put in more effort. It won’t happen by accident! That said, fish is a great clean source of protein for those of us who are not vegan.

Kingklip is a deep sea fish widely found in the coastal waters of southern Africa. It is low in fat and as well as being high in protein, also contains calcium, iodine and iron. If you cannot get kingklip you can use another solid white fish for this recipe.

Canihua is a close relative of quinoa and is native to the Andes. It is gluten-free and scores higher than quinoa in levels of protein, iron, magnesium and calcium. It has a similar flavour to quinoa, but the grains are much smaller.

Ingredients (serves 2)

150g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
150g shimeji mushrooms, separated
6 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil for frying
2 big handfuls spinach, sliced into ribbons
2 tbsp organic tamari
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp raw honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp raw sesame seeds
1/2 cup canihua (or quinoa)
400g fresh kingklip (2 fillets), skinned

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Place the canihua in a small pot with 1 cup of water and 1/4 tsp himalayan salt. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and cover with a lid. Simmer until all the water has been absorbed and the grains are cooked, about 20 – 25 minutes.

Slowly fry the mushrooms in some olive oil until they start to brown. Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the spinach and stir. Add the tamari and lemon juice and quickly put the lid on so that the steam will cook the spinach. After a couple of minutes remove from the heat. Add the honey, sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and place the kingklip down. Fry until golden and crispy then turn and do the same on the other side. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and roast for about 5 – 7 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. The flesh should be opaque and starting to flake, but not dry.

To plate, put the canihua on the bottom, then the mushrooms and spinach, and top with the fish. Squeeze some lemon over the top and enjoy.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Turmeric Hummus

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Turmeric Hummus

The search for healthy snacks is never ending in my house. I don’t like big meals so I tend to eat little and often so there is nothing better for me than some homemade hummus with some carrot or celery sticks or some gluten-free crackers. Check out my roasted red pepper hummus – that one was to die for (and the picture is way better than this one!) I didn’t have too much time today, I just needed to blitz it in the blender and go. I wanted to use turmeric as it is such an amazing anti-inflammatory and I try to use it in as much food as I can.

Ingredients

2 tins organic chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
Quarter cup purified water
2 tbsp tahini paste
5 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Half tsp Himalayan salt
Half tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp turmeric

Method

Simply blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender until completely smooth – it really is as easy as that! Enjoy with gluten free bread, crackers, rice or quinoa cakes or veggies.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

 

 

Beetroot & Horseradish Mash

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Beetroot Horseradish Mash

This recipe was created a year and a half ago but I’m updating it now as it’s a great one to add to the baby food section. Babies and toddlers will love this because the colour is so vibrant and it tastes gorgeous as well. You can reduce the amount of horseradish if you think it will be too strong for your baby…

There is a chance there might be none of this left by the time my husband gets home for dinner… it’s just so ridiculously delicious! I think it’s one of my favourite creations to date! And I didn’t even edit the picture one tiny bit as I wanted you to see the amazing colour – it really is this exact colour in real life!

You can see how much I love beetroot from my Beetroot Juice post last week. It’s just so good for you and it’s so important for us to get all our nutrients from plant-based sources. I’m also a huge fan of eating locally grown, seasonal produce. For example, not eating strawberries in January because they will be genetically modified. I buy all my fruit and veg from Abel and Cole because they are a genuine source for real organic food. So much so that you can’t even order strawberries or blueberries at the wrong time of year if you tried – they give you what is naturally grown at the right time of year. So as you can imagine, right now, beetroot are abundant in my home! Juice them, mash them, steam them, use them in salads, sandwiches, and, my next venture, to make Valentine’s pancakes out of them 🙂 in the meantime, enjoy this recipe…

Ingredients

5 raw beetroot
6 Maris Piper or Desiree potatoes
2 tbsp grated horseradish root
1 tbsp vegan margarine
Quarter cup almond milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Start by peeling your beetroot (just chop off the skins with a knife), cutting them into small cubes, then steaming them for around twenty minutes. I usually make a big batch and keep some aside in the fridge for salads and other recipes.

While this is on the go, peel, chop and boil your potatoes.

Once the beetroot are ready, add them to the food processor with a few drops of the almond milk and puree until smooth.

When your potatoes are ready, mash them until smooth, then add in the pureed beetroot, margarine, almond milk, salt and pepper, then add in the grated horseradish and mix well.

Taste a little bit, it may need more horseradish or salt, or if you like it creamier, more almond milk or margarine, depending on your preference.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren